


Close Encounter of the Lalonde Kind

by Miki_and_company



Series: Water, Salt, and the Time it Takes to Grow Up [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Coming of Age, Drinking, Existential Crisis, Explicit Language, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gay Drama, Highschool AU, Humanstuck, Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Rosemary endgame, Teens being teens, Trans Roxy, Useless Lesbians, background davekat, casual homophobia, explicit references to sex, implied vriskrezi, lesbian meta, muslim kanaya, mutual rosemary pining, pesterlogs, rose and dave being good friends and it is good, rosemary, social ostracism, vriska/eridan except its more a trainwreck than a relationship, vriskrose but its also a trainwreck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 15:14:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 15,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13033866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miki_and_company/pseuds/Miki_and_company
Summary: Rose Lalonde has just been transfered to a new school, and so far she has been taking the opportunity to rewrite herself. With the help of a new friend group and a short story bringing her closer to her cute lab partner, she manages to become both her edgiest and gayest self to date. All this change doesn't come without a price, though, and between a strained relationship with her mother, second thoughts about her new friends, nostalgia and self-doubt, she'll find it hard to stay in control."this is really good and i relate to rose a lot lmao. The dialogue feels really natural. i wasn't even really in the mood to read fanfiction when i opened this up but it captivated my attention the whole way through anyway."-Laurells, on chapter 2"THIS IS THE LESBIAM EXPERIENCE"-elijah, on chapter 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This Rosemary fic runs parallel to the davekat "Let the Fuck Ups Be", and it explores Rose's story. Having read the first part is really not necessary though. Both works have similar themes, though explored differently.

Rose leaned back and sighed at the little blinking cursor at the top of her open word document. Thoughts were similarly blinking in her head, meshing wordlessly into a story without linearity or coherence, one which she felt, one which she knew to be good, but didn’t exactly have a setting, plot, or character to insert in it. The google chrome icon on her taskbar teased her, begging her to dive into the wormhole of the internet rather than focus on her short story, which she visibly was not in a state to write. But she wanted to write it. She had wanted to write it ever since her English teacher had mentioned a short story contest on the first week of school. She wanted to submit something to that contest, something which could blow the socks off the jury, and perhaps in the process get her to win her a reputation which she still lacked.

She already had a reputation, in some ways. It didn’t take much more than a glance at the way she wore her uniform to tell, between the socks she always wore knee-high, her wrinkled shirt with rolled up sleeves and her black lipstick. The way she began hanging out with the infamous “d*kes” of her school almost immediately after the beginning of the year spoke volumes, too. The thing was, neither of those brought her much respect over her character, which was quite unacceptable. Yes, she was defiant of the establishment, no, it didn’t mean there lacked rhyme or reason in her actions.

She opened her documents, seeking to browse her previous work for inspiration. She looked at the titles of things she wrote recently, but none of it quite inspired her. She clicked on an old folder, and opened in front of her a bunch of old stuff she’d written years ago.

Her curiosity was piqued.

She clicked on a word doc she couldn’t remember, simply titled “Alice”.  

It began something like this:

_There must have been a dozen people waiting. Parents and their teens, sat on their luggage or shifting awkwardly their weight from one leg to the other. Many were on their phone, texting or playing games. A few adults with a self-important air were spitting business nonsense into Bluetooth earpieces. My mom was among them. I belonged to the first group, sat on my luggage. I was hungry. The hour was reaching noon and I hadn’t eaten anything all day, my stomach twisted by the bother of having to come here._

After the first paragraph, it all came back to Rose. This was something she had written in eighth grade, the story of a girl being dumped at a mysterious boarding school by her aloof single mother, and having to deal with supernatural occurrences all the while dealing with her teenage problems of not fitting in despite being amazing in every possible way. There was a bland and non-threatening love interest guy, several pointless references to Alice and Wonderland, and in total about five thousand words of meandering plotlessness, but hey, for a thirteen or fourteen-year-old, it was honestly not that bad. Cliché? Yes. Self-indulgent? Yes. But at least it was mostly coherent and stylistically decent.

The second document she opened, she had a vague memory of what it was. One of her first stories, a fantasy narrative about the daughter of a merchant being exiled and raised in a recluse monastery along with the disgraced imperial heiress after a foreign invasion, and their eventual return to society afterwards, where the imperial heiress joins a rebel faction wanting to overthrow the invaders, but instead getting captured and compromising by marrying the new king. There was magic involved in all of this, though Rose didn’t exactly remember how. It was one of the stories she had gotten the furthest in, about 20 000 words, but she had lost the document at some point, and tried to re-write it many times, but never found again quite the lore she had created, and deleted everything almost immediately after writing it. The one remaining version of this story was merely a page long, a page of weak writing defined by a lack of patience to establish the rules of a world which just sounded and felt so much better in her head than on paper. She shook her head in a nostalgic dismissal, and moved on to something else.

The third document she opened…God, oh God, this was from her edgy phase. Granted, she never truly outgrew her edgy phase, but this was peak purple prose and talk of philosophical bullshit, a Lovecraftian pastiche quoting Nietzsche level of dramatic. It was called “Complacency of the Learned”.

_As the best learned and the most ignorant among you will know, the world is layered and centered, with a space for each thing and a thing for each space in the Universe. Greatness is derived from thorough knowledge of this hierarchy, and one day, a Great man or woman is bound to absolve all chaos hitherto. A realist—one who lives sanely under conditions of absolute reality: In other words, a being perfect enough to kill and replace God._

_We have certainty of this being, because we have certainty of worth: we know that some things, by divine nature, are better than others. If better exists, then so must perfect. If any order at all is able to exist, then absolute order is but what has to come eventually. Rest assured in that, dearest reader, the void is a frail thing, too powerful for mere Mensch, but weak enough against our reasons and our wits._

_Is this the tale which these pages contain? No, certainly not. There is no victory at the end of this tale, for its hero is forsaken: they will go from greatness to greatness as well as from failure to failure, emulating in front of your very eyes both Aristotelian tragedies and Hollywoodian epics, not killing and embodying God, but efficiently killing and embodying a Prophet. They will not achieve absolute reality nor absolute sanity: Calmasis, the puppetmaster, will play for you the song of the uroboros, the ultimate Beast. Their voice shall echo your heart and its flaws, their melody shall direct your gaze upwards._

It was kind of sarcastically written, but still. Rose had no idea what the fuck she meant with that text. Yet, oddly enough, it was also one of her favorites. Go figure. She closed the document.

Wait, was that all which this folder contained? Where was the rest? She knew she wrote a bible’s worth of unfinished stories, and that there were more than this that remained on her computer.

She shuffled around, looking through the many, loosely organized folders of her computer. The school projects, the pictures, the music.

Ah-ha. Bingo. Buried inside of an unnamed folder inside last year’s school folder was about a dozen more stories, as well as another folder named “fanfiction”. Old fanfiction. She didn’t dare open that one. Rather, she looked at the other document titles before her, forgotten memories flowing back like through a broken dam. One especially caught her attention. It was called “New Elite” and it began like this:

_There was an appreciable quantity of dust that rose in the air with each of my step. I must say the dirt track on which I was running was especially susceptible to do that. Entirely focused on my task, it did not prevent me, however, to notice that I had taken much advance on my classmates. I was panting from exhaustion but it did not prevent me to keep up my speed. In a few meters I would achieve to get to the finish line, officially swooping once again the title of the fastest girl in the class._

_Running was such a relief to me. Between the never ending expectations of performance in class and all the competition for this or that title, at least in that field I could keep a distance ahead. Not that I was any bad in other disciplines:  only, other girls were, too. And in this world, having others be as good as you were wasn’t a particularly good thing. Of all the demands: of all the classes and trainings and selections, the only thing I could not comply to or feign was discipline. An awfully ill-mannered, impetuous, non-obedient young woman I was with no doubt. And though I knew it could harm me, my family, my honour and my future, I could not resign to take orders easily._

_Oh, I was eager to please, to receive honours and respect from my instructors and approbation from my country, but there was also this little bit of rebellion, this boyish, immature side I couldn’t contain. As I arrived at the finish line, and leaned forward to catch my breath, I could feel the dubious look of my teachers looking upon me. I was a source of unease. And something was wrong._

The plot was something about a fascist government trying to implement a new aristocracy by raising “superior” men and women, rank them, give them titles accordingly and have them marry each other. It was a bit of a cheesy prompt, but she could run with it. The writing was good, or at the very least okay, but it wasn’t what struck Rose. It wasn’t what got her to exhale softly in a fond grin, nor to keep reading the dozen of pages that followed. No, what kept her doing that was the way these characters were so oddly _better_ than in any other of her stories, so oddly more compelling and motivated, and also happened to be the first lesbians she ever wrote.

She didn’t do it as an attempt to represent homosexuality because it touched her personally, at the time, the very idea that she could have been attracted to women was quickly dismissed in her mind, brushed off by the way even her friends would rather use the topic as the punchline of a joke than a real possibility, yet at the same time the dramatically romantic epic that was gay relationships called to her imagination, and without thinking much about it, merely wanting to “be a good ally” she wrote this story. The plot was still flimsy and directionless, but for once, the interactions between the characters didn’t feel forced. The conflict of a main, Claire, being at once unable to conform and wanting to be admired, the friendship with a much more restrained best friend the romance with whom remains ambiguous for the longest time, the problematic and ambitious disaster of a friend with whom Claire ends up exploring her sexuality, it just was so much more…relevant than any other romances Rose had previously written. Well, except for all the gay fanfiction she wrote in the following years, but, y’know, this story had started it all, and it was not about men.

In fact, none of these old stories were about men. At most, they were about androgynous or genderfluid characters. As opposed to most of the stories she wrote in the last year-and-a-half, which were almost exclusively centered around guys. She kind of missed that former ease she had writing women.

Especially since she now knew she wasn’t straight.

She didn’t know exactly _when_ she found out, she had suspicions even before she had transferred to Marianopolis and befriended the school’s self-identified “d*ke club”, but even then, she hadn’t been entirely convinced. She still wasn’t convinced of what label she should put on herself. Somewhere, maybe even just reading these stories helped put the final nail in her conviction that she was genuinely attracted to girls, and not faking it for attention.

The thought made her want to put her face in her hands, much more confused and uncomfortable than she should ever be. She brushed away the feeling, with a deep breath, and tried instead to focus on the fondness and candor which had inspired that tale long ago.

Rose decided that she was finally going to get back to her short story. She now knew both what she wanted to write and how.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i censored a word. i don't know if it's like, a good move or making things worse or why am i even that word but idk. just realized maybe i didn't want to alienate people with it.


	2. Chapter 2

“Yo, so, did you end up submitting that short story for the contest?” Latula asked, genuinely curious.

Rose, who was playing absentmindedly with the unidentifiable vegetable mix on her cafeteria plate looked up at the girl in front of her.

“yeah,” she said.

Vriska, who was busy pretending to listen to Aranea’s unrequited lecture over God-knows-what gratefully turned to Rose.

“So, what’s it about?” 

“Lesbians,” Rose shrugged.

Vriska broke into a wide grin and hooked an arm around Rose.

“That’s what I’m talking about, girl,” she said.

Rose had a short laughter. It felt good being part of a group for which this was so normal.

“Is it steamy?” Meenah asked with an eyebrow wiggle.

“It’s a school contest,” Rose said.

“So?”

Rose rolled her eyes.

“Believe it or not, I’m interested in winning.”

“Too bad.”

At that moment, a group of people passed next to their table, one of the guys pulling Vriska’s hair as he walked behind her. Her face twisted in outrage, and she looked behind for the culprit. He was already going away, but she had no trouble identifying who did it from experience.

“Fuck you, asshole!” She flipped him off.

“You already did, sweetie,” he turned briefly to clap back. He had a weird unidentifiable accent that made him roll his “w”, if that even was possible.

“That’s not true and you know it!!”

Vriska was livid. It felt like she could just get up and deck him in the middle of the cafeteria, but a girl who was in the group of the offender pulled him by the hand, and they both vanished before anything else went down. The attention of the people at the neighboring tables had been caught, though, and Aranea had put a hand on Vriska’s shoulder to calm her down.

“So, you and he are still at it, huh?” Meenah said.

“I am not doing anything, mind you, he’s the desperate douchebag who started it all.”

“yeah, that’s what I said.”

“What did he do?” Rose asked.

Vriska was about to open her mouth, but Meenah cut her off.

“He told everyone that Vriska sucked his dick,” she smirked devilishly, obviously finding the whole affair quite amusing.

A much-less amused Vriska crossed her arms and added,

“He thinks that claiming a lesbian fell for him will give him some sort of credibility,” she scoffed, “Good thing he’s such a notorious bullshitter that nobody can seriously believe him.”

“Well, nobody believed him at first, but the fact that you were so obsessed with denying it brought some mad suspicion, dude,” Latula pointed.

“Well, excuse me if the idea of having intercourse with this serial incel is grinding my nerves,” Vriska retorqued. “If you have trouble accepting that, then perhaps you are less of a friend than I thought you were.”

“Chill,” Latula raised her hands defensively. “I believe you. I’m just sayin’. I’ve heard theories.”

“Alright, why don’t we talk about something else?” Vriska exhaled. “So this doesn’t end up with a mass murder?”

“Great idea,” Aranea agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention Muslim kanaya? Anyway, there is muslim kanaya in this. Why? Dunno. Made it a thing in the first fic and now i gotta carry it through. it's chill. Islam is chill. Enjoy.

Rose couldn’t quite focus in her physics class. The teacher wasn’t the problem, no, it was more the girl a few desks in front of her which did. She stood out among a crowd like a butterfly among spiders, and yet, despite her best efforts, Rose could just not quite get her character. Sure, they had never spoken, but that tended not to stop Rose. She was a good judge of character. But that girl had a magnetic aura.

She wore a hijab. She was the only one in the entire school to do so, since the uniform did rebuke most people with religious garments. She had gotten a dispensation, though, possibly through some legal loophole, and was allowed to wear a marine headscarf and longskirt, as well as a long-sleeved shirt under her polo. She rocked it. She moved with grace, and the first time Rose had set eyes on her, it was like she had been struck by lightning. She didn’t know exactly what to make of it.

“As you know, today is our first lab,” the teacher said. “Now, I have a lot of experience, and I know for a fact that if I allow you to choose your partner, the good students are going to go with the good students, and the slackers with the slackers. I find this defeats the purpose of teamwork, as it doesn’t challenge you or make you learn anything. So, hate me all you want, say I’m a jerk, I don’t care, I won’t allow you to choose your partner. You’re not going to get to choose your co-workers later in life either, so get used to it. Now, I will just assign you by alphabetical order, since the alphabet is just one more random and arbitrary measure of the universe, and to me it’s as good as any. When we don’t have a lab, I’ll let you sit wherever you want, I don’t care, but on the days we do have a lab, I want you to be sat at your assigned desks already when the bell rings, we don’t have any time to lose. Choosing your seats is a privilege, not all teachers allow it, but if you talk too much I may revoke it. Understood?”

The class remained mostly silent, but the middle-aged man at the front of the classroom took it as a yes. He picked up a sheet on his desk, went to stand on the island closest to the door, adjusted his little round glasses on his nose and read the first name.

“Danielle Arthur,” he read.

A brunette sat in the middle stood up, picked her things and moved to the place he had indicated, leaving the guy who was sitting at the front deskless.

“Just wait at the front until I call your name,” the teacher told him. “Jonathan Avery,” he continued.

Rose was sitting pretty close to the back, so when she got called, she wasn’t standing at the front, as opposed to the very first guy to have been displaced, chewing on his nails while visibly annoyed at the situation, or the pretty hijabi girl, who was standing still and paying close attention to the names being called out.

Before Rose could finish making her way to her assigned desk, the teacher had already called the next name.

“Kanaya Maryam,” he said.

The pretty girl in the front started walking towards Rose’s station.

Suddenly, all thoughts Rose might have had before were replaced with exclamation points.

Calm down, she reasoned, biting her lip. You don’t even know her yet.

“Hello,” Kanaya greeted her politely.

“Hi,” Rose answered with a shy smile.

They went back to sitting in silence until the teacher finally reached the end of his list.

He walked back in front of the classroom and sighed.

“I hope these teams will function well. If they do not, I guess I’ll see it soon enough. Don’t forget that it’s your responsibility to be sufferable to your partner. The lab materials are generally at the back, though sometimes it may already be on your tables, if it’s something needing a lot of installation. Please do not ever, touch something before I tell you you can. It’s distracting, and that’s how we end up with broken material. Please don’t break the material. I know you are used to having your parents buy you whatever you want, but believe it or not, this school has a limited budget. Now, I’m going to pass the instruction sheets for this first lab, we’ll go over everything you need to do, and when I tell you, one student per group will go get a basket with the materials at the back. Understood?”

Vague nods. The teacher began passing sheets.

“Your name is Kanaya, right?” Rose whispered.

Kanaya nodded.

“And you are Rose?”

Rose nodded.

“I like your lipstick,” Kanaya said.

Rose blushed.

“Th-thanks. Yours is quite lovely too.”

It wasn’t obvious whether Kanaya was actually wearing lipstick—maybe a nude tone—so Rose mentally scolded herself for that stupid line, but Kanaya answered,

“Thanks.”

Rose looked down at her lab sheet, telling herself to calm the shit out of her gay for one minute.

“So,” Rose tapped her pen on the table, “It seems like this is about lenses.”

“That would indeed make sense, since it is, after all, what we are studying right now.”

Shit.

“I was being sarcastic.”

“Oh, sorry. I…guess I misunderstood, then. Though I am not entirely convinced that is how sarcasm works.”

“Good thing I’m an expert, then. I’ll be able to teach you.”

“But do I even want to learn?”

Rose didn’t know what to answer to that. Luckily, by then the teacher was taking back the attention of the students.

The lab happened without incident, but by the end, Rose really didn’t know what to think of Kanaya. Were they getting along? Was she feeling more or less attracted to her? It was hard to know.

Not that it mattered, since she probably didn’t have a chance anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

Rose was knitting while listening to her music when she realized that she had made two faulty rows in her work. She groaned. She plucked out her earphones, double-checking to make sure she had indeed no option but to undo the last two rows to fix her attempts at a braid-pattern poncho, and upon seeing that there was indeed no way out of it, she sighed and threw said poncho in the yarn basket next to her bed. Vodka, who had been sleeping on her lap, awoke from the movement and looked up at her with squinty, dazed eyes.

“What?” Rose asked.

Vodka meowed.

“It’s because I’m gay, isn’t it?” she deadpanned.

Silence.

“Y’know, I came out to you because I thought I could trust you, because I thought you’d understand. I trust you more than anyone else, Vodka. You know all there is about me. You know all there is about the act I’m putting up. Because it’s all an act, even what I’m telling you right now is an act. There is no Rose Lalonde. Only the nine different personalities of Rose Lalonde.”

Her tone was getting progressively more dramatic, as though she was reading a play.

She petted her cat behind the ears.

“But I’ve dissected them all so much to you, you might actually be able to peek into my core. You are the only bird who can peck at my heart with feline accuracy. Who knows, maybe we even are one an the same.”

She jolted upright, startling Vodka.

“Why, then, won’t you let me hold the secrets of our shared mind? Are you afraid there is something within which is too dark for this carnal envelope of mine to comprehend? The meaning of life? Are you terrified of yourself?”

She stared straight into her cats’ eyes. He broke contact first, walking over her lap and jumping from Rose’s bed. She kneeled on the bed to look at him, she shook her head with a laugh.

“That’s what I thought.”

Vodka ran for the door.

 “That’s it! Keep running! There is no running away from the truth!”

The door was closed, and Vodka meowed. Rose stood up and opened it for him. As she opened it, she fell face to face with her mom.

“You sure you don’t wanna try out for the school play, sweetheart?” She smiled, laundry basket in her arms, as Vodka rubbed against her legs.

Rose rolled her eyes and took the laundry basket from her mother’s arms.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

She was about to close the door. But her mom held it back.

“Oh, come on, I thought we could talk a bit. I worked aaaaall day, I need some support from my beautiful daughter.”

Rose rolled her eyes, but let her mom waltz in anyway.

“So,” she said, nosing around Rose’s stuff, “How’s it going at school? Made any new friends?”

“Yeah,” Rose shrugged. “I guess.”

Rose mother began giggling.

“Hey, no kidding, I’m being _such_ a mom right now. All up and askin you about your lil’ friends. Y’know you can tell me anything, right?”

She went to sit down next to Rose and grab her by the shoulders.

“And I mean. Anythin. I’m not kiddin.”

Rose sighed.

“I know Mom, it’s just…I’ve got nothing to tell you. I…I guess I submitted a short story to a school contest?”

“Wait, really? Omg, why didn’t you tell me? Can I read it?”

“No! I mean…it’s…kind of personal? It’s nothing against you I just…”

“Rose” her mom interrupted, looking her dead in the eyes. “I _respect_ your personal boundaries. I’m just trying to be a good mom, who’s like, interested in you. You know, there’s plenty of kids out there, just, neglected and alone, and I don’t want to be the parent to that sorta kid. You got me?”

“I appreciate the effort, but I can take care of myself.”

Her mom looked kind of disappointed. Rose supposed most parents did feel that when their kids grew up, she just couldn’t really stand the condescension of it all. 

“Alrite then, kiddo.”

She shuffled Rose’s hair and exited the room. Rose felt bad, but she also felt like it wasn’t her fault. She did exactly what she had to do.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyy sorry i took so long to post this, I had to format the chats and I was being lazy.  
> anyway, here it is.
> 
> FYI, I have created some troll handles
> 
> cetoCataclysm= Meenah  
> aphidGalvanizer= Aranea  
> gamesCavalier=Latula
> 
> thanks and enjoy the read!

After about a month after the beginning of the schoolyear, Rose really began to miss her old school, even though she had told herself there was no reason for that. Her new friends were great, the teachers were more competent, the only thing she really had to complain about was the incredible itchiness of the uniform.

As for her old friends, well, she texted Jade, Dave and John every once in a while, and she even managed to meet up with Jade and Dave.

Jade was doing good, or at least she seemed to be doing okay. Dave on the other hand, she knew for a fact had trouble making friends and was probably agonizing, left alone back at their old school. The fact that he managed to faint from lack of feeding himself didn’t surprise Rose, but it did worry her. She promised to herself to keep an eye on him, just in case.

She didn’t expect—she didn’t intend—to come out to any of them just yet. Part because she was afraid it would change things between them, part because she didn’t know how to define herself, and she wanted to be in full control of her identity before sharing it. She wanted to wait for the perfect moment. Thing is, the temptation could be strong anyway.

One rainy and shitty Thursday, she came home and her mom hugged her from behind unexpectedly.

“Mom, please stop,” Rose said.

“mmnah. Iluvyoutoomuch,” her mom said, planting a kiss on her temple.

Rose could smell the alcohol in her breath.

“I’m serious,” she said, prying herself out of her mother’s grip.

Her mother sighed. She pouted slightly, but then just put on a big childish smile back on.

“Guess what, I ordered pizza!”

“Let me guess, you tried making me a hearty homecooked meal, but you were drunk, so you burned it.”

Mom put her finger on Rose’s mouth, shushing her.

“shhh…tsirelevant.”

“hm-hm” Rose said. “Well, you know what, I think I’ll just eat in my room.”

“alright sweetie, just don’t make a mess, okay?” mom said, having moved her finger from Rose’s mouth to try and erase some invisible stain on her nose.

Rose swatted her mother’s hand away, rushed to the kitchen, grabbed a few slices on a plate, then rushed to her room. She kicked the door close and sat in front of her computer. She had notifications.

It was Dave.

TurntechGodhead started pestering TentancleTherapist 

TG: sup rose 

TG: you wont believe who started hitting on me today 

TT: I somehow doubt that whoever it was had intents to be anything more than cordial to you. 

TG: wow rude 

TT: I am not judging your attractiveness or popularity, Dave, rather simply the fact that you tend to over read these things. 

TG: yeah anyway it was karkat vantas 

TT: Oh. 

TG: you seem unimpressed 

TT: Well, though I may not know him on a personal level, I know it is not unusual to be addressed by him. 

TG: yeah but he had only ever talked to john before no 

TT: I think Jade knew him a bit. She was not particularly fond of him, though. 

TT: Given how poorly he obviously think of us, though, I doubt he was hitting on you, no matter how bisexual he may be. 

TG: wait hes bi for real 

TT: It is only the most well-known fact in the entire High School. 

TG: oh 

TT: Do you have a problem with that? 

TG: what no i mean i didnt know anyone was out in this school thats all 

TG: isnt high school supposed to be like super unforgiving about that 

TT: The ways of the Teens are impenetrable. 

TT: Also, I am fairly sure there is at least one openly gay guy, one lesbian, and two transgender sophomores in your school at the moment. 

TG: uh 

TG: and what about your school 

TT: Well, there is always me. 

TG: wait what 

TT: Dave. 

TG: what 

TT: You truly, seriously need to refine your gaydar. 

TG: no i dont im the most gaysensible radar there is out there ill have you know and its not because i dont know everyone in the school that it is defective okay 

TT: I will raise my eyebrow at that. 

TG: rose we have analyzed enough gay subtext together so that you should not doubt me like that i mean fuck 

TT: In any case, what did he tell you? 

TG: well idk he sat on the bus next to me and started to spout some nonsense 

TG: lets say we skipped the small talk 

TG: hes like 

TG: nicer than i thought actually 

TT: Why did he do that? 

TG: i think he was pissed i joined the history club 

TG: fucking boring club by the way its like just an extra class 

TT: What a Gentleman. 

TG: i know right 

TG: one day he stares at me like he wants to kill me and the other hes kissing my boots on the bus 

TG: i bet he had repressed gay feelings for me all along 

TT: I’d still recommend not to rely too much on that belief. 

TT: In any case, it is a good thing you have someone to talk at school. I was getting worried about you. 

TG: dont worry my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard no exception no deception 

TG: cause when they have a taste of the strider it gives their life direction 

TG: critics agree ten out of ten for the execution 

TG: and the public cries corruption 

TG: so just come by and have a taste if you wanna be convinced 

TG: That the strider is the real thing 

TG: wait that last one didn’t rhyme 

TentacleTherapist is an idle chum 

God. How oblivious could someone be? Come on, Dave.

While she was talking to him, another conversation popped up, making her kind of give up on the first one.

arachnidsGrip started a MEMO on board LESBIAN BOOTY PIRATES

AG: how’s it going, you ragtag group of wild 8eauties.

AG: I have gathered you all today for a concise de8riefing on the following topic:

AG: Halloween.

AG: Now, as we all know, this is a high stakes mission. 8ut I reckon we shall overcome its perils and vainquish.

cetoCataclyism joined the MEMO

CC: bitch cut the nonsense and get on with it

CC: i aint readin a fuckin novel just cause you cant keep your dungeon mastery out of the nerd table

[aphidGalvanizer] joined the MEMO

[AG]: Meenah, you know that Vriska is not the dungeon master, I am.

CC: yeah it aint better

[AG]: In any case, we haven’t played Dungeons and Dragons for a long time now. Not ever since the de8acle. We should perhaps try to organize a new party. I know you’ve 8een vocal about your prejudice against the game, Meenah, but I still 8elieve you’d 8e one to enjoy it. Not to mention you would make a challenge to the flexibility of my campaigns.

CC: whatever

gallowsCalibrator joined the MEMO

GC: I 4M OFF3ND3D BY TH3 ID34 TH4T 1 4M NOT 4 SUFF1C13NT CH4LL3NG3 TO YOUR DUNG3ON M4ST3R SK1LLS.

[AG]: I am not saying you aren’t.

[AG]: Though I am saying that the fact you actually want to play the game does make it easier for me.

[AG]: In theory.

CG: WH4T DO YOU 3V3N M34N BY TH4T.

[gamesCavalier] joined the MEMO

[GC]: m4n you guyz 4r3 g3tting m3 h3lla curious 4bout that g4m3

[GC]: 1m st4rting to th1nk 1t sounds r4d

[GC]: your3 gonn4 h4ve to 1nclud3 m3 1n your n3xt round BD

AG: I reckon we’re getting off topic here!!!

AG: i mean, im all in for planning a new campaign, 8ut this was supposed to 8e a8out our halloween party

TentaclesTherapist joined the MEMO

TT: I feel like I have missed something.

CC: please krill me

TT: krill you?

CC: it’s a nerd thing u don’t wanna know

[AG]: I find it’s quite interesting story, on the contrary.

[AG]: You see, Terezi is 8lind, and thus her computer possesses a text-to-audio feature with which she can hear what we type, though it is quite tideous in the long run.

[AG]: she’s adopted leetspeak in an attempt to make us understand 8etter the struggle it is for her to communicate via instant messaging.

[AG]: Now, for the rest of us, it’s an entirely different story.

cetoCataclysm blocked [aphidGalvanizer]

CC: anyway

CC: how a8out my hive friday november first

CC: make it the party of the year

CC: hella

arachnidsGrip unblocked [aphidGalvanizer]

AG: actually, i had something else in mind…

CC: yea but consider

CC: when has a party at my place ever disappointed anyone

[AG]: Meenah! I wasn’t finished!!!!

[GC]: no off3ns3 but 4 p4rty 4t M33nah sounds dop3

[GC]: h3r c4ve 1s th3 d3v1lz sh1t.

GC: 1 L1K3 H3R R41NBOW F1SHT4NK 4 LOT.

TT: Wait, I thought you were blind.

CG: 1 4M, BUT 1 C4N S33 COLOR JUST F1N3.

TT: Oh, alright then. Well, consider my curiosity over this “rainbow fishtank” piqued.

AG: oh, come on! Aranea, say something!

[AG]: I’m on their side.

[AG]: feelings aside, I think a party at Meenah’s would 8e for the 8est.

AG: I can’t 8elieve my own twin sister is such a 8acksta88er.

AG: fine.

AG: we’ll have a huge thing at Meenah’s.

AG: like always.

[AG]: you’re just bothered because last time you gave Eridan a 8lowjo8 and he told the whole school.

AG: F8R THE LAST T8ME!!!! I DID N8T!!!SUCK!!!HIS!!DICK!!!

CC: I mean whatever, if ampora shows up we can just kick him out

CC: its not like my sis can reely defend him stayin if im the one throwin da party

CC : ya feel

arachnidsGrip left the MEMO

CC: here we go again

TT: To be perfectly honest, I can understand why she is upset.

GC: M3 TOO

GC: 1 M34N, 1T’S NOT ALW4YS JUST1F1ED WH3N SH3 STORMS OFF, BUT TH1S T1M3 1 C4N’T BL4M3 H3R.

GC: 1’LL GO T4LK TO H3R.

CC: yea maybe u should

gallowsCalibrator left the MEMO

cetoCataclysm left the MEMO

gamesCavalier left the MEMO 

TT: So, is anything actually settled?

[AG]: yeah, of course.

[AG]: We’re going to have a Halloween party at Meenah’s.

[AG]: We’re going to form a new Dungeon and Dragons party, without Eridan this time around.

[AG]: And Vriska is going to come into my room and yell at me any second now.

[AG]: Oops, there it is.

aphidGalvanizer left the MEMO

TentaclesTherapist left the MEMO


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> randomly shifting to Kanaya POV because reasons
> 
> also, finally getting some roxy in there, it's about fucking time. There are no doubles for characters in this au except for Roxy/Mom, but, I guess that's okay because hell yeah Roxy.

Kanaya hated the fact that she found her new lab partner cute.

She hated that fact, because she knew she had a type, and that this type spelled “trouble”.

Sat on the run-down couch of the LGBT club, she simmered over their conversation, trying to find what, exactly, about the cheek-and-tongue cynicism of Rose Lalonde she found so alluring.

Her mind kept running back to Vriska Serket. That was…not good. She didn’t want Rose to become another Vriska.

Roxy walked into the room.

“heyyy! Sup Kan?”

“Hi Roxy. I am good. How about you?”

“I’m good, I’m good. Hey, wanna see something cool?”

“Sure.”

Roxy sat down next to Kanaya and put her backpack on her knees, proudly showing off a bunch of pins clipped to it.

“I bought a motherfrickin pin machine. I spent the whole weekend makin em.”

“can I see?” Kanaya asked.

“Sure thing babe,” Roxy grinned.

Kanaya leaned forward to look at the various colorful buttons. There were two flags—a blue, yellow and pink one as well as a baby blue, baby pink and white one—but there was also some geeky stuff, a princess peach, an anime character Kanaya didn’t recognize, something written in Japanese, a Betty Boop and a triforce.

“Cool,” Kanaya said.

“I made you some, too.”

Roxy opened her bag, took out a ziploc and handed kanaya two pins: a dark pink, pale pink and white one, as well as one with a little cartoon sewing machine.

“Thank you,” Kanaya said, dumbfounded. “These are amazing. I’m speechless.”

“Aw, now, come on. It’s nothin’.”

“Still.”

“Well, I’m glad you like em’.”

She slung back on the couch.

“Hey, have you heard about Meenah’s Halloween party coming up?”

“No. Well, you know I don’t typically attend this kind of event…”

“Yeah, I know, but like, I think it’s gonna be fun. I promised fef I’d be there, and since it’s an open house, it means you can come, too. Callie’s gonna be there.”

“Well, I guess if I at least know a few people…”

“I knew you wouldn’t let me down!”

Roxy threw herself at Kanaya for a hug. After a few awkward seconds, she pulled back and took Kanaya by both shoulders.

“Now, all I need to do is convince Jane. If you’ll excuse me.”

She took her backpack and stormed out of the room.


	7. Chapter 7

ArachnidsGrip started pestering TentaclesTherapist

AG: hey

AG: i just wanted to tell you terezi told me you were on my side a8out the whole eridass thing

AG: so thanks for not 8eing a fake friend

TT: Well, it’s nothing really.

TT: Sexual defamation does not render his character likeable through any measure.

TT: I’d be positively livid, too, if it had ever happened to me.

AG: he thinks he’s such a smartass 8ecause he started a mean rumor a8out me

AG: turns out the jokes on him though

AG: my reputation is already shit.

AG: turns out having an independent spirit and liking girls is enough to make everyone hate me

AG: ha.

TT: This is regrettable. I happen to be an independent spirit who likes girls.

AG: well, we’re not friends for nothing then :::;)

TT: What was that?

AG: oh, it’s a roleplaying thing.

AG: kind of like the ‘8’

TT: Oh, yes.

TT: I should have figured.

TT: Say, forgive me for prying, but I am curious about this whole Dungeon and Dragons debacle Aranea was talking about the other day.

TT: Can you tell me more?

AG: Oh, that, it’s nothing.

AG: 8asically, 8efore he decided to 8e a complete douche to me for no reason, Eridass was part of our DnD group, with Aranea, Tez, Kanaya, Tavros, and sometimes Feferi.

TT: wait—Kanaya?

AG: you know her?

TT: She is my lab partner in Physics class.

AG: Oh, ok. Well, I haven’t talked to her since the incident.

AG: she was starting to act weird around me anyway by then. Dunno why.

AG: shes okay I guess. A 8it annoying, may8e. she can get preachy.

AG: she was always trying to get all up in my business, like, 8itch, get a life.

AG: she’s nice though

TT: Uh.

TT: Interesting.

AG: 8ut hey

AG: who cares

AG: if we make a new DnD group she pro8a8ly won’t be in it.

AG: we’re starting anew, 8a8y.

AG: just the 8est of the 8est

AG: and my sister

AG: you in?

TT: Maybe.

TT: I’ve always been curious about that game. I’ve never played it, though.

AG: well, educate yourself then.

AG: I’ve got some 8ooks I can lend to you if you want.

TT: That sounds great.

AG: Of course it does. Oh, hey, I’m sorry 8ut I gtg.

AG: Ciao ::::)

arachnidsGrip ceased pestering TentaclesTherapist


	8. Chapter 8

 

The winners of the short story contest were to be announced on Halloween. Rose had no idea how they were to be announced. So, when the interphone creaked in the middle of her English class, she felt no apprehension.

That is, until the principal called for all of the students’ attention, and declared that the winners were to be declared right here and then. Many in Rose’s class seemed confused, mainly because they had completely forgotten that contest even existed.

“In third position, with her short story ‘The Feast of Miracles’ congratulations to Mara Scully.”

Rose sat up straight on her chair, suddenly nervous.

“In second position, with his short story ‘Living on The Edge’ congratulation to David Tran.”

Rose released part of the breath she was holding, trying to prevent herself from crying. She didn’t know if she even could believe that her story made the cut, and, honestly, she wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t. Yet, there was a ping of hope coming through, and it kept her on edge as the principal called the last winner.

“And in first position, the winner of our annual Fall short story contest, with her wonderful short story ‘Frostweed’, congratulations to Rose Lalonde.”

A couple of eyes turned to Rose as she tried to stay cool and not let a stupidly large grin paint her face. Rose’s English teacher, a relatively young woman who always wore indoor scarves looked up at her.

“Congratulations, Rose. I think we can give her a hand,” she said as she began clapping.

The other students joined in politely. When they were done, the teacher said:

“All of the stories will be available at the library starting tomorrow. I strongly recommend you go check them out. Now, that said, where were we?”

“Question 5,” one of the students answered.

“Ah! Yes. Of course, so, what do you think drove Simon to have a conversation with the Sow’s head? How are we supposed to interpret it?”

The class resumed.

When the bell rang, the teacher told Rose to stay for a minute.

“I just wanted to congratulate you again for your short story. I had no hesitation about voting for it, and I know it was the case for many of my colleagues, too. I’m curious to know what inspired you.”

“Oh, well, uh, I guess I…I read a lot, so…”

“Are you gay?”

Rose just kind of open and closed her mouth for a few seconds before the teacher backtracked.

“Oh, no, sorry, you don’t have to answer that! I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable! I just thought it was very brave to have your main character fall in love with another woman, that’s all. It’s rare that students dare to do that, but you wholeheartedly embraced it, and I think that’s great. I know some of my students are in the LGBT club, and they’d love to read this. Is it okay if I show it to them?”

“yeah, sure, why not?”

Rose was starting to yearn for the end of this conversation.

“I really have to go, though, my next class is all the way upstairs and…”

“Oh, go, go, don’t worry, I’m not holding you back. Congrats again!” she said as Rose was already absconding.

TentaclesTherapist began pestering ArachnidsGrip

TT: I won!

AG: yeah, the whole school knows that.

AG: congrats I guess

AG: you still up for the Halloween party tomorrow right?

TT: Yes, I am.

AG: cool :::;)

AG: see you then


	9. Chapter 9

 

Kanaya had heard rumors about the Peixes Mansion, and she’d be lying if she said that she had never been curious about it. If nothing else, at least attending this party put that curiosity to rest. The place was a goddamn palace. The Greystone building obviously had some age to it, but it had also been extensively renovated several times with the intent to modernize it, and it led to a certain clash of styles which still weirdly harmonized. It stood still halfway between a daydream and a nightmare, begging to be the setting of your next fever dream.

Most attendees seemed to care little about the architecture, though, their buzzing coming mainly from the house and overflowing on the carefully manicured lawn. Kanaya figured she could afford a tour of the place, so long as she had no idea where Roxy, or anyone she knew for that matter, even were.

She made her way through the crowd and was met with a twenty-foot tall golden statue of…someone. A vaguely familiar woman who inspired no sympathy nor enquiry on Kanaya’s part. She’s already been covered in silly strings and ribbons, so, really, she just worked as a striking symbol of decadence. Cue in “The Great Gatsby” quote or something.

The halls deployed confusingly, and most of what allowed Kanaya to navigate them was the sculptures and paintings distinguishing them from one another. She passed through one or two salons, each flavored with a distinct gaudiness pressing her to abscond from them. Only when she walked into the room with the indoor swimming pool did she start to feel appeased by the décor.

The pool room was bathed in warm pink light, the water refracting waves on the ceiling. One of the walls was entirely made out of a multicolored fish tank filled with exotic aquatic life.  Kanaya bothered to go closer and stare at it. It almost made her forget the noise of the teenagers screaming and splashing around in the pool and jacuzzi.

“So, there _is_ a rainbow fish tank,” a masked figure said.

It wasn’t clear whether she was talking to Kanaya or to herself. The voice was familiar and distinct enough however, for Kanaya to understand that the masked figure was none other than Rose Lalonde, with a wig and mask transforming her into some sort of renaissance carnival princess.

“Nice to see you here,” Kanaya said, figuring it couldn’t hurt.

Rose turned her head and smiled at her.

“I didn’t know you would be coming.”

Kanaya had a short laugh.

“I did not exactly…intend to be here. I was coerced, you see.”

“By whom?”

“Oh, come on now, I would not reveal such a thing.”

“You’re right. It would undermine the mystery. I would know too much, and all your magnetism would instantly vanish. Wise move, wise move.”

Kanaya glanced at Rose, half amused, half piqued.

“Surely a gothic beauty of literary talent like you would know,” she said in an ambiguously sarcastic tone.

Rose opened her mouth.

“I…” she began.

She closed her mouth and stared intently at the piece of coral in front of her.

There was an awkward silence between them. Kanaya was the one to break it.

“Oh, and, I wanted to say…” she said softly, crossing her arms. “congratulations on winning that short story contest.”

Rose slowly turned her head back to Kanaya.

“Thanks,” she said with a shy smile.

Kanaya smiled back. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a wild Vriska appeared.

“There you are!” she said at Rose sharply. “God, I thought you bailed out like Terezi! Come, we’re watching movies downstairs.”

“Uh, sure,” Rose said. She turned to Kanaya. “I guess I have got to go. It was…nice talking to you.”

Kanaya hoped that she wasn’t imagining the uncertainty in her voice. That Rose actually wanted to stay, and hadn’t just used her as a casual talk because she couldn’t find Vriska.

“See you Monday,” she answered as Rose was being dragged away.

Dammit. They were having a moment, there. She sighed.

Suddenly, the pool room, which had been warm and romantic became loud and annoying, with Feferi’s dangerously high-pitched screeches and giggles echoing through the room along with the slapping of pool noodles against the water. Kanaya walked out.

The hallway was no better. A handful of drunk idiots having decided to make one of the hallway decorations into a game in which they had to get a ping pong ball into various holes and nooks of said decoration.

She realized she should have never come here in the first place when she finally understood that the odd sting she had been feeling ever since Vriska came to take away Rose from her was jealousy. Bitterness. Not anger, but just this irrational feeling of having been robbed, of having been put once again into this position of injustice.

It wasn’t solely because of Rose, nor solely because of Vriska, but rather because of a mix of both. And maybe a little bit because of herself. Because she imagined scenarios—because she imagined a chemistry with Rose, despite knowing full well that it was dangerous territory. She had no guts when it came to those things.

She was looking for the exit when she stumbled into the kitchen, where a sexy cat Roxy was playing bartender.

“Oh my fuckin god, kan, you look like ur at a funeral,” Roxy said.

She tapped on the counter.

“Please come and tell everythin to aunt Rox.”

“You know I don’t drink alcohol.”

“Yea, I know, and I don’t either. If I still did, I wouldn’t be here, but at the actual bar in the basement. I’m doing an alcohol-free bar up here, for the pleasure of the senses. What do you want?”

“Whatever you’ve got.”

Roxy smirked.

  “I’ve got just the thing. It’s called a rainbow-temple. Its like a Shirley temple but with color syrups of the rainbow.”

“Thanks,” Kanaya said as she sat down at the counter.

After carefully mixing a bunch of nauseatingly sweet things together, Roxy slided a rainbow glass across the granite surface.

“here u go. A gay drink for a gay lady. Who could be happier tho. Tell me whats wrong.”

“Oh, nothing,” Kanaya shrugged.

“mmmyeah but nah. Im not stupid, but hey, if u don’t wanna talk about it, then whatever I guess, but just know that I support you, alrite?”

Kanaya played with the straw in her drink.

“I’m just stupid, I guess.”

“Ah, love troubles then. Let me guess. Crush on a straight girl?”

“No.”

“Is it Vriska?”

“Maybe.”

Roxy sighed.

“When is it NOT Vriska?”

“It’s just…I mean, I’m over her now. Since we dissolved our Dungeons and Dragons party, she is unwilling to talk to me anyway, and I’m not sure I would want to talk to her anyway. I just still wonder if we actually could have had a thing and I was just to much of a coward to go for it, or if I had imagined it all to begin with.”

Roxy made a tss-tss noise.

“That’s the eternal struggle, isn’t it?”

“I’m just wondering…if I ever was to be in that situation again…hypothetically…what would I do?”

“Well, for starters…idk. I mean, im always on the side of saying something, but I get it might not be ur jam. Just…go with the flow. Follow your heart, let it fall and rise with the tides, baby.”

“Yeah, I guess you are right. Whatever it is you meant.”

“That’s the spirit.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: disaster lesbian coming ahead.

 

Rose was staring with fascination at the Peixes fish tank. She had never been one to especially care about life of the aquatic type, but the color and movement of it all was just something she had never seen before. Had she been a cat, there would be little doubt that behind her would wag a fascinated—and quite hungry—tail.

Movement next to her caught her attention. She looked discretely to find Kanaya standing besides her, dressed as…a nun. Ha. She did have some sense of irony after all. Kanaya did not seem to recognize her, though, Rose figured her wig and mask may not have helped. Rose searched her mind for something to say to ignite a conversation.

“So, there is a rainbow fish tank,” she said.

This wasn’t ideal, but it could do.

Kanaya turned to Rose, had a slight frown which turned to surprise when she recognized her lab partner.

“Nice to see you here,” she said.

A flutter went through Rose, who turned her head and smiled at Kanaya.

“I didn’t know you would be coming.”

She figured she could afford one (1) sincere remark without seeming desperate.

Kanaya had a short laugh. She swayed on her feet.

“I did not exactly…intend to be here. I was coerced, you see.”

“By whom?”

Kanaya shrugged.

“Oh, come on now, I would not reveal such a thing.”

She had a playful corner smile which just begged Rose for some witty comment.

“You’re right. It would undermine the mystery. I would know too much, and all your magnetism would instantly vanish. Wise move, wise move.”

She had begun that sentence rather sincerely, too sincerely in fact, and so by the end her tone was entirely sarcastic.

Kanaya glanced at Rose.

“Surely a gothic beauty of literary talent like you would know,” she said dryly.

Rose opened her mouth. There was a compliment in there, but she was still starting to feel like she annoyed Kanaya to no end, and didn’t exactly know what to do about it.

“I…” she began, uncharacteristically speechless.

She closed her mouth and stared intently at the piece of coral in front of her. Maybe she should just shut up for once. Maybe she was just the worst at being pleasant company. It’s okay. She had known that for years already. She had embraced her arrogant nihilistic persona and the fact that most people found it unappealing, but it still hurt a bit when someone she found cool rejected it.

She wanted to find an excuse to go, but at the same time she knew she couldn’t bring herself to voluntarily terminate the unexpected encounter.

Kanaya talked before Rose could get a chance to find what to do.

“Oh, and, I wanted to say…” she said softly, crossing her arms on her chest. “congratulations on winning that short story contest.”

Rose’s mind froze. This was…unexpectedly sweet.

Rose slowly turned her head back to Kanaya.

“Thanks,” she said with a shy smile. Maybe they could get along after all.

Kanaya smiled back. They looked at each other for a relatively long time.

 Then Rose felt someone grab her wrist. She turned her head to see a Pirate Vriska.

“There you are!” she said at Rose sharply. “God, I thought you bailed out like Terezi!”

There was bitterness in her voice. She shook it away to enthusiastically claim:

“Come, we’re watching movies downstairs!”

“Uh, sure,” Rose said. She did not, in fact, really want to go, earlier, sure, but not now that she was bonding with Kanaya—however there was a warning in Vriska’s voice telling her that she had better go and watch that stupid movie. 

Rose turned regretefully to Kanaya. “I guess I have got to go. It was…nice talking to you.”

She gave an apologetic smile. Kanaya shrugged.

 “See you Monday,” she concluded.

A few seconds later, Kanaya was completely out of sight, as Vriska was dragging Rose through the hallways and down the stairs into the basement. Which as vast and labyrinth-like than the rest of the mansion. They did eventually reach a gloriously fancy media room, complete with a mini-bar and a bijillion-inch-curved-mega-HD-hyper-3D-whatever screen. Aranea, Meenah, Latula, and at least three other people Rose didn’t know were also there. Aranea and Meenah were arguing over the controller while Latula was eating popcorn, sat on the arm of the couch even though there was plenty of space and the couch in question could fit a small battalion comfortably. One guy was apparently trying to fix the blue ray, even though Netflix was plainly open on the TV, a girl was smoking at one edge of the couch, with a guy having his arms wrapped around her shoulders.

Vriska dived behind the minibar and fished two bottles of beers, one which she handed to Rose. Rose took it absentmindedly, paying attention instead to the argument going on.

“I’m just sayin I’ve seen all of these shit ass horror movies, and they’re boring as fuck, so let’s watch something else instead.”

“It’s Halloween! We _have_ to watch a horror movie!” Aranea said, readjusting her witch hat.

“k, but consider: we don’t actually have to watch anything. We can do whatever the fuck we want.”

Meenah was not wearing a costume.

“I think this should work…” the guy working the blue ray player said.

“Alright!” Latula said, pumping her fist in the air.

“So, what are we watching?” Vriska asked.

“We still haven’t decided,” Aranea said.

“Romeo+Juliet!” Latula said.

“Oh, come on, dude,” Meenah said. “If we are to watch a lame-ass flick from the nineties from our blue rays, we should _at least_ go for cruel intentions.”

“Basic instincts,” Vriska suggested. “or Lord of The Rings.”

“I don’t have basic instincts and I am NOT watching your fucking interminable nerd epic tonight.”

Vriska shrugged.

“Alright, Cruel Intentions then. So long as we put on something.”

“Fine,” Aranea finally gave up. “We’re watching cruel intentions. If Rose is okay with that.”

All glares turned to Rose.

“Sure,” she said.

Vriska and her sat down next to one another on the couch, and someone put on the movie. Rose had never seen it, but she’d heard of it and was pretty indifferent to the premise.

Finally seeming to realize she had an open beer bottle in her hands, she figured it couldn’t hurt to give it a shot. It was…bad, but she made certain not show it. She forced herself to get through it though, like some challenge to uphold through the movie. She passed it with flying colors. By the end of the movie, she had downed two bottles. The second one had been gracefully offered to her during a bathroom break.

She also did it because she figured that alcohol couldn’t hurt with the nervousness she felt about Vriska scooting increasingly closer to her through the movie. It was playful, but the subtext of her glances was just pretty obvious. By the time the climax rolled around, Vriska was running her fingers up and down Rose’s thigh without restraint. Rose stared at the screen, trying to look focused even though she hardly knew what was going on.

Their heads touched.

Vriska buried her nose in Rose’s hair.

Rose was breathing heavily.

Then the movie ended, the lights turned on, and they shifted apart. The volume of the group increased, people stretched, empty popcorn bowls were being discarded, the tension that took a whole film to build disappeared as quickly as it came.

The group broke into banter, Rose was offered a third drink and before she knew it, they had chatted to the bottom of it, and she was clearly starting to feel drunk.

The conversation had more or less died out.

“hey, will you help me bring this stuff upstairs?” Vriska asked Rose, empty bottle in hand, gathering other miscellaneous crap around the room.

“it’s fine you can leave that shit there,” Meenah said.

Vriska shrugged.

“Just thought I’d try and be useful.”

She continued to pick up stuff. Rose helped.

“I’ll help you,” she said.

Vriska smirked. Hands full, they exited the room together.

When they entered the kitchen, Kanaya was there talking with some cat girl and Rose felt a sudden ping of excitement. She put down the things on the counter.

“Hey,” she said with a dumb smile.

“Hey,” Kanaya answered. “So, was the movie any good?”

“Well, I can’t say it was an art film,” Rose shrugged with a giggle, “but it was fun.”

Vriska finished throwing the empty beer bottles inside the recycling bin, and walked up to Rose, casually hooking her arm around her shoulders. Rose leaned her head on Vriska, still happily staring at Kanaya.

“Hey, Kan, long time no see. Doing good?” Vriska said.

Kanaya looked away, purposefully avoiding eye contact.

“Hm-hm,” she answered.

Vriska pursed her lips and nodded vigorously.

“Welp. It’s nice to see you and all, but as it turns out, we’ve gotta go. Bye.”

Vriska turned away, bringing Rose along. Rose figured she had fucked up somehow, as she looked back towards her lab partner, but her mind was just foggy enough for her to figure it didn’t really matter, and trot along through the mansion hallways with Vriska.

“hey, want to go somewhere quiet?” the latter asked cheekily.

“affirmative,” Rose answered.

It wasn’t anything rational which brought Rose to give this answer, but rather a lack of reason. A lack of reasons to distrust Vriska, a lack of reasons as to why it would be a big deal, a lack of reasons to not give into the temptation of the warm body pressing against her.  In her defense, the alcohol did make her feel even gayer than usual.

So they walked into a bedroom somewhere, and they kissed. Rose had already discarded her mask somewhere, downstairs probably, and Vriska took off her wig and wigcap to tangle her fingers in Rose’s static-ridden hair. They fucked up each other’s lipstick real good, but Rose didn’t really care. All she cared about was this buzzing warmth in her chest, this confirmation that, yup, definitely, she had Sapphic leanings.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slight angst alert. also, rose is kind of a trainwreck but what's new?

Kanaya was hanging out at the LGBT club on Monday morning when she noticed a printed spiral book on the table, the short stories of the writing contest. What were they doing there? She thought about ignoring them, but her curiosity got the best of her. After all, there was nothing wrong about looking up the writing of some fellow students, right? Even if one of those fellow students happened to be a cute lab partner with whom she had no chances whatsoever, whose lipstick stains had just so happened to end up on the smug grin of a picture of a certain ex dungeon and dragons partner whom she should have probably stopped following on Instagram a long time ago. There was nothing weird, or bitter, or desperate about that. Nope, no sir. Just the finest intellectual curiosity and rationality.

Because it didn’t matter, like, it really didn’t. It’s not like she knew Rose all that well. Like, what, they had spoken four, maybe five times? She had went through her profile on social media and found that, as much as she admired Rose and her cat and that they had many interests in common (fashion, cats, morbid imagery and supernatural romance), perhaps they just weren’t meant to be. She could be okay with that. Really. It was just one of God’s everyday challenges, the temptation of falling back into her mistakes, and the opportunity to make it right this time. It didn’t have to hurt. Maybe Rose and her could just be friends, and get a lot from one another, and it could give her closure over Vriska. It was like Roxy said: go with the flow, or something. Let divine will carry you through.

So, uh, should she read the short story or not? She figured she should, since, well, it was right there in front of her and she had just resolved to go with the flow already. She opened it, didn’t even glance at the other stories, sat down jumped right into the flowery prose of “Frostweed”.

\---

The cold of November was starting to get biting, especially for the bare fingers with which she was holding her fork, but eating outside was still the most logical and least humiliating thing to do after the fiery argument Rose had just had with Vriska on pesterchum over the weekend. She felt a sort of shame now, about the way Vriska had managed to aggravate her out of her usual composure over something as trivially crucial as an Instagram picture. She’d just been kind of upset that Vriska wouldn’t even ask for her permission to post a picture of herself after their make out session, and tagging her in it. She could’ve been outed! Maybe she didn’t want it to be known by everyone! (even if, admittedly, they had lacked subtlety back at the party).

Maybe…maybe she was having regrets, too. Maybe not. Her feelings towards the whole thing was…complicated. Yeah, she didn’t really care if people at school thought she was gay. Honestly, with the people she was hanging out with and the look she had, she knew most people had already jumped to that conclusion anyways. She didn’t care what those people thought. It wasn’t like she held them in high esteem, or anything.

Her phone buzzed.

TurntechGodhead started pestering TentacleTherapist

TG: oh my god rose are you gay rose you need to tell me

TT: Hello, Dave.

TT: I appreciate the way you greet people.

Then a crushing doubt came into her mind that perhaps he’d seen the picture? Heard the rumor? Then she remembered her previous semi coming-out to Dave and realized whatever the cause was, she might as well be honest with him.

TT: To answer your question, perhaps? Well, I’m not straight, that’s for a fact, I like girls, but the rest is a little blurry if I am being perfectly honest.

TT: You can say for the time being I identify as queer.

TG: oh my god

(Oh my god? Oh my God what? “Oh my God” good, or “oh my god” bad?)

TG: well not like it’s a bad thing or anything rose i accept you completely hugs and finger guns wink and sincere profession of compassion and all

(*Le sigh of relief*)

TG: but jesus rose

TG: why is everyone i know so gay all of a sudden

TG: like has the gay fairy come and sprinkled a bit of her magic rainbow dust all over this town or what

(Rose chuckled audibly, ungracefully spitting out a bit of her salad in the process.)

 

TT: If by “gay fairy” you mean “puberty” and “the collective dawning realization that straightness is not as default as one might think,” then yes.

TG: well its

TG: kind of cool i guess

TG: like all that joking around about everything being so gay becoming true

TG: its like believing in santa ironically knowing hes not real and then one day finding out he is

TG: reverse childhood disillusion

TG: dope as fuck

TG: soon enough ill be walking among a permanent pride parade of rainbows and shit

TG: lol

(Oh, Dave. You precious, oblivious, gay thing.)

TT: You get used to it. The novelty wears off.

TG: does it though

TT: No, not really.

TG: well i guess itll wear out for me too bad im not more into sucking cock amirite

(Oh Dave, you cringey, oblivious, gay thing.)

TT: Dave.

TG: what

TT: Please don’t.

TG: wet blanket

TT: I’ll sugar whoop your ass with my magic rainbow gay dust.

TG: aw yisss

TG: that milkshake gonna bring all them gays to the yard

TG: shake it shake it

This discussion was really making her feel better. Rose was typing her response when her screen went black. The smile at the corner of her mouth faded. She tried pressing all the buttons in hope of reanimating it, but she saw the little red battery symbol in the corner and knew there was no hope.

“No! nonononono…you fucking piece of shit.”

She let out a pathetic sound. This was the opposite of what she needed right now. She wanted to talk to Dave, inane as he might’ve been. She wanted to talk to Jade. She wanted to talk to John. She wanted to talk to her friends, and not be eating salad alone on a park bench in the cold on a Monday lunchbreak.

She felt water starting to blur her vision, but she held it back, too proud to actually cry. This was ridiculous, completely fucking ridiculous. She was only two months into the schoolyear and she had already managed to get into more drama than any other schoolyear before, and that included the time she had to cover for John putting shaving cream in the guys’ locker room in seventh grade. Or that time Dave and her dated for a week (ew), also in seventh grade. Basically, this year was starting out worse than seventh grade, and that was pretty fucking pathetic because seventh grade was awful.

She had a bitter laugh.

“What’s so funny?” a familiar voice rang behind her.

She turned around to see Kanaya. It reminded her of how everybody thought she was dating Vriska now and she swallowed.

“Nothing,” she said, embarrassed.

“Yeah, I figured. Are you all right?”

“Is anyone ever all right?”

“I’m going to take that as a ‘no’,” Kanaya said, sitting next to Rose.

“You probably shouldn’t hang out with me like that,” Rose said flatly, “I’ve got the lesbian cooties.”

Kanaya just glared at Rose.

“What? It’s true,” Rose said with a shrug and a smirk.

“I just doubt that I can catch a sexual orientation, especially one that I already have. That wouldn’t make much sense.”

She put her bag on her knees, letting Rose’s gaze fall on the pink and white button clearly displayed on it.

Rose let her head fall backward with a double facepalm.

“I’m so stupid. Fuck me.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m not exactly an adept of casual sex. Also, you’re not stupid. A stupid person could not write the most amazing short story I have ever read.”

“Wait—are you Mrs. Ross’s LGBT club student?”

“What? Who?”

“ Mrs.Ross…English teacher…long brown hair, pretty young…”

“Does she have rectangular glasses?”

“No.”

“Oh, well, then, I’ve got no idea who you’re talking about. But I’m in the LGBT club, yes.”

“Oh. Ok.”

Rose fell silent for a few seconds before Kanaya’s comment came back to her.

“Wait…did you just say that my story was…”

“Yes, I did,” Kanaya grinned, amused by the mess right next to her.

“That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“I don’t know, I just…it touched me. I liked how the romance between Calypso and her ghost lover paralleled the relationship between her desires and herself. It reminded me of _The Haunting of Hill House_ , I don’t know if it was intentional…”

“A little, yes, it’s interesting that you’ve picked up on that…”

“It’s not all that surprising, really. I mean, it’s a classic…”

“Yeah, well, I know my story is still a little cliché…”

“No, I don’t think so. It really works.”

“…but it tries to deconstruct those things as well.”

Kanaya nodded.

“Yeah.”

They sighed together.

“So, you never did tell me what was wrong,” Kanaya said.

“Well, it’s complicated I guess. Cultural differences between my old friend group and my new one.”

“Hm,” Kanaya nodded, staring into the distance. “Well,” she added, “I can give you my pesterchum handle if you want. If you ever need…something. Help, company, whatever.”

“Sure,” Rose said, both cheered up and daunted by the prospect.

She took out a pen and handed it to Kanaya.

“Um, do you have a paper, or something?”

“Just write it on my hand,” Rose told her.

She did. Rose’s skin was rough from the cold, but she enjoyed the way Kanaya’s slim fingers held her pen and scribbled on her hand. She looked at the handle, grimAuxiliatrix, and smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, i recycle pesterlogs. what are you going to do about it?


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, note to the readers: you have to KICK MY ASS if you want more chapters, because as much as I enjoy writing this, it's hard to get motivated when i have no fucking clue what any of you think of it. this has been a PSA. Also I love you.

TentaclesTherapist started pestering TurntechGodhead

TT: Dave.

TT: Are you ever burdened with the impression your indulgence in subjective reason paradoxically burdens your capability to engage emotionally in your own existence?

TG: well geez

TG:  idk

TG: im gonna go with yes

TG: assuming this was a yes no question

TT: I mean, can you be both cynical and hedonistic? Is that a possible moral combination of traits in a human being? Does that make me a nihilist?

TT: Oh God.

TT: I just want to know why the thought of enjoying myself makes me feel dead inside.

TT: Dave, I beg for your advice.

TG: has your mom been nagging you again

TG: cause you sound like your moms been nagging you again

TG: either that or one of your teachers is being a bitch

TT: It happens to be neither of those things.

TT: I am just feeling a little existential, that’s all.

TG: dude youve been feeling just a bit existential ever since you crawled out bawling from your mothers womb

TT: All right, I’ll admit, there is somewhat of a reason I am feeling rather morose.

TG: morose contemplative melancholic sad gloomy depressed dejected emo

TG: see I can use a thesaurus too

TT: I wasn’t being that bad.

TT: In any case, I guess I’ve had somewhat of a fallout with my most recent group of friends.

TT: Which, in retrospective, I should have expected.

TT: Actually, I quite expected it.

TT: Simply now I wonder what I am to do about it.

TT: Should I make up, at the risk of being hurt again, or should I give up and wallow in my loneliness like you do?

TG: hey

TG: first of all fuck you im the coolest kid in school and you know it

TT: Really?

TG: of course ive got people throwing themselves at me left and right its quite exhausting actually

TG: and second of all

TG: im gonna need some bloody details if you want some of my sweet sweet advice

TG: because you told me exactly jack shit about those new friends of yours

TG: all I know is they made you realize you were gay so theyre either like super hot chicks or really ugly dudes

TG: im gonna assume theyre super hot chicks cause thats more fun to imagine

TT: Dave, I am going to come to your house and murder you personally.

TG: why

TG: youre fucking rich you can afford a hitman

TG: anyway my point is you’ve gotta pour the gossip on those plastics if you want me to gasp outrageously at what they did to you

TT: It’s complicated.

TG: pour the fucking tea sis

TG: pour it all over my face

TG: burn my flesh

TT: All right, if I tell you, will you stop embarrassing yourself?

TG: im gonna have to be honest with you

TG: I am physically incapable of doing that

TT: Well, here goes anyway.

TG: but youre gonna tell me anyway

TT: There is this group of girls, a little rebellious, very much gay, whom I joined for lunch, and with whom I got along decently.

TT: I’m not saying I never wanted to pluck their eyes out of their sockets, but compared to my other options, they made good company.

TT: One of those girls happens to own what amounts to a castle. She is probably the least tactful of any of the girls in the group, but she throws quite lavish parties

TT: She just happened to throw such a party for Halloween. Gatsby would’ve been proud.

TG: oh man i went to some shabby school party for halloween yours sounds so much more interesting

TG: to be honest though i didnt even think those big teenage parties were even a real thing i thought they only happened in movies

TG: anyway continue

TT: Me neither. Well, it was quite impressive. I had a good time. I may have ended up…experimenting.

TG: oh my

TT: Shut up.

TT: I just wanted to try things out…and she was cute and did most of the work, honestly.

TT: I just hadn’t considered that she was using me.

TG: for what

TT: Her good friend hadn’t showed up to the party and I think she was trying to prove she could have a good time anyway.

TT: I would not have mind if she had only tried to prove it for herself, but…

TT: She posted a picture of her face covered with my lipstick marks on Instagram.

TG: hmm

TT: Dave.

TG: just checkin Instagram

TG: whats her name again

TT: I’m not telling you!

TG: wait nvm i found it

TG: vriskaspiders wink emoji

TG: black hair weird glasses

TG: description reads

TG: vriska serket 17 scorpio lesbian nerd

TG: she has a lot of cosplay pics

TT: …

TT: Yeah, that’s her.

TG: well shes hot I guess

TG: wait is that terezi

TT: You know Terezi?

TG: yeah she goes to our school

TG: shes uh

TG: shes karkats ex actually

TG: saw met at my Halloween party

TG: id rather not talk about it

TT: Well, that seems to explain why she was not at Meenah’s party, rendering Vriska even more bitter than she is under normal circumstances.

TG: ok wow

TG: rose no offense

TG: but this whole situation is a goddamn mess

TT: I know!

TT: That’s not all!

TT: I’m pretty sure my hookup with Vriska completely ruined my chances with Kanaya!

TG: goddamn

TG: whos kanaya

TT: My physics laboratory partner. I mean, I didn’t think I’d have much of a chance, but at the party I was talking with her, right before Vriska accosted me…

TT: Then yesterday I learned she’s gay and she gave me her pesterchum but I already blew it…

TG: how

TT: She thinks I’m dating Vriska!

TG: wait youre dating vriska

TT: No!

TG: oh ok

TG: yknow im not like a dating expert or anything but

TG: dude im fucking lost whats the problem if youre not dating vriska

TT: Well, for one, she doesn’t know that. Even she did, wouldn’t it only make it worse? Wouldn’t I seem to be of promiscuous inclination?

TT: You know what?

TT: Nevermind.

TT: Just forget I told you any of this. I’ve told you way too much already.

TT: If you say a word of that to anyone, you’re dead, got it?

TG: I dont know what it is with these girls but they really seem to have made you slightly more homicidal than you were already

TG: which I didnt think was possible

TG: but like dude you don’t have to wrap everything you tell me under seventy layers of psychological shroud

TG: like sure i do that but your psychoanalyst mind likes to interpret the nonexistent subtext of my mind so really im the one indulging you

TG: what im trying to say is

TG: fucking chill

TG: you dont have to keep up your persona around me

TG: if you wanna rant about your gay drama go ahead

TG: im not gonna judge you

TG: unlike some

TT: …

TT: Thanks.

TG: also maybe you should talk to your crush

TG: go do some psychoanalytical lesbian flirting or whatever it is you do

TG: or you know

TG: maybe just take it easy be her friend

TG: she sounds nicer than the others really

TT: Dave stop giving me advice it’s making me feel really useless.

TG: ok then

turntechGodhead stopped pestering tentaclesTherapist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose, you useless fuckin lesbian.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> author coming back like a year later to post 3 chapters to an unfinished fic?  
> It's more likely than you think

Rose stared at Kanaya’s pesterchum handle on her computer screen, debating whether or not she should message her. On the one hand, Kanaya did give her the handle, without even being asked, but it might’ve been more of an act of pity than anything else. Or a gesture towards convenience—they were, after all, lab partners. It was normal that they would have a mean of directly messaging one another. Though the context in which she got the handle was in no means academic—Kanaya had strongly implied it was for messaging her in more of a friendly way. Maybe. Was that really what she said? Rose forgot. She may or may not have blanked on half of that conversation. God get wrecked.

 

TentaclesTherapist began pestering GrimAuxiliatrix

TT: I do not mean to sound rude.

TT: But since you have provided me with the explicit permission to contact you, as well as the tools to do so, I’ve felt inclined to use them.

TT: Could you confirm the Lab report is due on Tuesday?

GA: Hello

GA: I Do Not Think The Lab Report Is Due On Tuesday For We Do Not Have Physics On Tuesdays

TT: Why, silly me then.

GA: This Strikes Me As A Foolish Mistake

GA: One Could Infer In This Act An Unsubtle Clue Towards Perhaps This All Being An Excuse To Pester Me

TT: Or perhaps I meant Thursday?

TT: I am not infallible, you know. As showcased by my uncertainty of said Lab’s reports due date in the first place.

GA: The Laboratory Is Due On Thursday And Your Fallibility Is Duly Noted

TT: Well then. It seems I have been gifted with some extra time compared to what I had expected.

TT: What shall I do with such time?

GA: Do You Not Like Knitting

GA: Perhaps You Could Try At Your Wonderful Prose Once Again

GA: How Quaint Is it Not That Such A Genius Of A Writer Cannot Work Her Imagination Sufficiently To Fill Up Her Time

TT: Perhaps I had ideas, yet simply was fishing for some suggestions of yours?

GA: I Had Figured That My Last Comment Was Simply Dry Wit

TT: Well then, my dear, I’m afraid you were being sarcastic.

GA: …

GA: You Caught Me Off My Guard

TT: It’s what I do.

TT: I’d put a wink emoticon here, if it were not for the implication of promiscuity I’m afraid it would carry.

GA: You Would Indeed Not Want To Risk That

GA: Let Us Keep This Nice And Platonic

TT: Well, I’ll try being opportunistic at this, and take it as a sign that we can indeed keep “this”?

TT: By which I mean banter beyond academic nature. For the purpose of indulging in an attempt at this human disease called friendship.

TT: I don’t want to sound too forward.

GA: I Thought My Propositions Of Friendship Had Been made Clear Already

GA: I Am Afraid Your Forwardness Is One Step Behind

TT: Well, what would it require for me to once again set the stage evenly?

GA: You Could Always Come See Me At The LGBT Club Tomorrow At Lunch Time

TT: Very well then.

GA: See You Soon

GrimAuxilitrix stopped pestering TentaclesTherapist


	14. Chapter 14

“Heyy”

The only person currently present in the LGBT club room was definitely not Kanaya. Rather, it was a dyed blonde girl sprawled unceremoniously on the couch, one leg over an arm rest, playing 3DS. She was nonetheless familiar.

“Do I know you?” Rose asked.

“idk my dude, depends on if whether you remember me.”

“If that’s the case, then I seem to have trouble with the recall of it. My name is Rose.”

“Yea I know.”

“You do?”

The girl put her game console down and leaned forward in a less-sprawled-although-still-uncomfortable-looking position.

“hell yea I do. Rose Lalonde. Kanayas lab partner, Vriskas friend slash hot makeouts and the chick who won the writing contest. Nice to meet you.”

“No offense, but I find it rather troubling that you know so much about me when I know close to nothing about you.”

“You want me to spill all of my secrets onto you? Is that what you want? Cause I can do that.”

A devious smile crossed or face.

“Or better yet. Let’s gossip.”

“I’d appreciate to just be given your name, to be honest.”

She jumped and stuck her hand out.

“Hello, I’m Roxy, trans, pan, poly and all-around bad bitch. President of the LGBT club. It is of my duty to know all about the gay stuff happening in this school, hence why I know about you.”

“Nice to meet you,” Rose answered. “I’m afraid I don’t have much in the way of gossip to share with you, sadly. I’m interested in knowing more, though.”

Roxy’s smile grew even wider.

“Watcha wanna know?”

A metaphorical dialog option box popped out in front of Rose, with the choices “Ask about Kanaya” and “Ask about Vriska” popping up above. She chose the former.

“Kanaya is a part of this club, right? What do you know about her?”

“Oh, some things for sure. For starters she’s an awesomesauce megagreat gal, so you got taste for asking about her.”

Rose smiled shyly.

“Then, uh, well, I wouldn’t know where to fucking start. She used to hang out with Vriska and the others a lot, but not so much anymore. She lives with her big sis who’s like so fucking hot I swear Id smack that ass, I just haven’t figured out how to do it without it being weird yet.”

“Hm.”

“Aside from that…”

As Roxy was pondering what else she could say, Kanaya entered the club room, throwing aside her backpack.

Rose blushed, embarrassed to have almost been caught gossiping about her, but Roxy was nonplussed.

“Oh, hey, speaking of the devil,” Rosy said. “Sup kan?”

“I’m doing well.”

“Hi Kanaya,” Rose blurted out.

Kanaya smiled.

“So, you held true to your word. That’s good to know.”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know, I was not making assumptions if that’s what you were worried about…I’m glad to see you.”

“Oh, well, I’m glad too.”

“Now, what were you two saying about me?”

“Oh, I was just telling her how great you are,” Roxy answered. Then winked.

“I saw that,” Rose said.

“I know. I’mma leave you now. You two should talk about your hobbies or whatever. No make outs in the club room.”

She left.

Kanaya and Rose both sat down on the couch awkwardly.

“So…what do you like to do in your free time?” Kanaya asked.

Rose took a deep breath.

“Well, I like to write, and knit.”

“Oh, you knit?”

“Yes, I find it to be a pleasant creative outlet, I guess.”

“You have to show me sometimes. I feel like I ought to know that. I sew a lot, because my sister has a studio for her shop, but I never did learn how to knit.”

“It’s not that hard, really, sewing seems a lot more interesting…”

“I can show you a few things I did,” Kanaya said, pulling out her phone.

Rose leaned in, heart beating as Kanaya showed her pictures of some of her creations. She was nervous—had been ever since she stepped into the club space—but the ice seemed to have mostly melted, and from there the conversation flowed organically. She did lose her train of thoughts once or twice at the sight of Kanaya’s smile, but the conversation was interesting enough to nearly lose track of time. It wasn’t until Kanaya noticed the time on her phone and declared she ought to go if she didn’t want to miss her class that they parted. Still, the magic feeling of the genuine exchange they had shared lingered as Rose wandered down the hallways.

“Excuse me, miss,” A voice called to Rose as she turned a corner.

A woman in her fifties, with hair dyed just slightly to red to be natural and holding a walkie-talkie was looking directly at Rose.

“I’m going to ask you to unroll your skirt,” she said once eye contact was established.

“It _is_ unrolled,” Rose lied.

“lift up your shirt.”

“I’m not going to do that,” Rose said.

“Do it.”

“No.”

“This is getting ridiculous.”

“Indeed,” Rose crossed her arms.

The woman sighed as she took out her detention slips and started scribbling on them.

“You’re not giving me a choice,” she said, handing it to Rose. “Now, follow me, we’re going to get you changed.”

Rose took the slip.

“It won’t be necessary,” she said, unrolling her skirt.

The woman rolled her eyes. She clearly itched to give Rose some extra penalty for her sass, but clearly didn’t think of any excuse which would justify it. So she just spat at Rose to get to class.


	15. Chapter 15

GrimAuxilitrix started pestering TentaclesTherapist

GA: Hello

GA: I Am Sure You Are Aware We Have A Test Coming Up

GA: I Was Just Wondering If You Would Fancy Coming Over To My Place In Order To Study Properly

TT: I would love to.

TT: Admittedly, if this is a ploy for you to benefit from my notes, I’ll have you know that they are of awful quality.

TT: I cannot find myself caring enough about physics to maintain proper notes. Nor study, usually, although I figure it cannot hurt.

GA: I Do Not Mind

GA: I Will let You Profit From My Notes

GA: Will You Come This Friday After School

GA: We Could Take The Bus Together

TT: Sadly I’m afraid that won’t be possible.

TT: I’ve already scheduled a date with detention this Friday.

GA: How Incorrigible Are You

GA: And By That I Mean If It Is not Prying Of Me To Ask

GA: How Did You Get Detention

TT: I had an encounter with Red Commando after we met yesterday. She tried to enforce the dress code upon me—apparently, ten centimeters above the knee is an outrageous amount of thigh to be showing—and I refused. She gave me detention. Only when she wanted to waste my time with changing did I unroll my skirt.

GA: …

TT: Are you judging me for this?

GA: If I Have Any Judgement It Is A Positive One

GA: This Was A Power move

GA: I Have Not Encountered This Specific Problem Of Dress Code Enforcement

GA: Given The Amount of Thigh I Am Showing To Be None

GA: But I Have Known A Fair Amount Over Judgement On My Wardrobe Choices

GA: So I Am All In Favor Of Empowering Oneself Against the Fashion Police

TT: You get it.

GA: Although I Will Admit That Your Thighs Were On The Distracting Side Yesterday

TT: Your sarcasm is getting better and better.

GA: Yes

GA: That Was Sarcasm

GA: Absolutely

TT: Well, to get back to the reason you first contacted me, would Saturday be a good day for you, if we were to meet?

GA: Absolutely

GA: I Will Send You My Coordinates


End file.
